Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his "700 Club" viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's is justifiable because the disease is "a kind of death."

During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.

"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.

The chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs the "700 Club," said he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on anyone who divorces a spouse who suffers from the illness, but added, "Get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer."

Rates of women who are opting for preventive mastectomies, such as Angeline Jolie, have increased by an estimated 50 percent in recent years, experts say. But many doctors are puzzled because the operation doesn't carry a 100 percent guarantee, it's major surgery -- and women have other options, from a once-a-day pill to careful monitoring.

A network spokesman said Wednesday that Robertson had no further statement.

Disease rarely leads to split
Divorce is uncommon among couples where one partner is suffering from Alzheimer's, said Beth Kallmyer, director of constituent services for the Alzheimer's Association, which provides resources to sufferers and their families.

"We don't hear a lot of people saying 'I'm going to get divorced,'" she told The Associated Press.

"Families typically respond the way they do to any other fatal disease," she added.

Video: New treatment for Alzheimer’s ‘promising’

Closed captioning of: New treatment for Alzheimer’s ‘promising’

>>a big health news story. as we mentioned earlier tonight we have the first glimmer of hope in the fight against
alzheimer
's in a long time. while there, of course, is no cure and while it's hard to find an
american family
without some connection to
alzheimer
's, a new study funded by the
national institutes of health
has found that an insulin
nasal spray
, of all things, has shown memory improvement in some patients. research like this is a prong of the administration's effort to develop the first so-called national
alzheimer
's plan and we get our report tonight from our chief science correspondent
robert bazell
.

>>i'm going to demonstrate for you --

>> reporter: it could be a dramatic new treatment for
alzheimer
's disease.

>>it's very promising. we're very excited about it. we'd like to see it move forward into a larger trial.

>> reporter: dr. suzanne craft and her team gave volunteers a dose of a special insulin
nasal spray
or a placebo. the 104 participants had
alzheimer
's or, like
john martin
, prealzheimer's memory problems. after four months, three-quarters of people getting the insulin spray did better on memory tests.

>> reporter: why insulin? recent studies show a strong connection between
insulin resistance
and many symptoms of
alzheimer
's disease. insulin helps the body use sugar. if that doesn't happen properly in the brain it can lead to
memory loss
. in this experiment the scientists used the spray to get insulin into the scieninuses.

>>it reaches the brain quickly.

>> reporter: people should not try to treat
alzheimer
's with insulin used to treat buy details. it could be dangerous or life thenning. a longer study should reveal whether the hopeful beginning marks genuine progress against a heart-breaking disease that so far has been unstoppable.